Thousands of officers to go as police budget cuts hit

But the losses could still be ‘more severe’, the Inspectorate of Constabulary warned today, as 26 of the 43 police forces have still to indentify how to save £500m. This is more than a quarter of the £1.9bn that forces need to cut in a ‘very challenging’ settlement, the inspectors say in a report on the impact of last year’s Comprehensive Spending Review.

The watchdog inspected all police authorities and forces in England and Wales to look at how prepared they were to make savings over the four years to 2014/15. It concluded that authorities and forces hade made a good start in developing plans.

Adapting to austerity found that on average, authorities and forces are planning to cut their expenditure by 14% in real terms compared with 2010/11. The cuts vary significantly between forces, from 8% to 19%, but the total loss of staff is projected to be 34,000, including 16,200 police officers, 1,800 police community support officers and 16,100 other staff.

The cut in police officers will reduce their total number down to the same level as in 2001/02, Roger Baker, lead inspector on value for money said.

Asked whether the £500m currently unaccounted for would lead to greater job losses, chief inspector of constabulary Sir Denis O’Connor said: ‘That potentially means that the losses could be more severe. But if forces succeed in their collaboration [in IT systems], there may be some off-set on that, and depending on inflation too. It’s an uncertainty.’

The report says that five forces will have the ‘most challenging’ savings to make, as they have to make cuts of greater than 50% to their back‑office staff along with a bigger reduction still in police officers. These are Devon and Cornwall, Gwent, Nottinghamshire, Sussex and West Mercia.

Baker added: ‘We found authorities and forces are planning relatively modest cuts to frontline numbers this year and they had all set an ambition to reduce crime. But whether they achieve and sustain this is yet to be seen. To sustain this, most forces will have to transform their efficiency. Those forces that start the CSR period as the most efficient and those forces that face the greatest cuts will find this the most difficult.’

The inspectors highlighted the need for authorities and forces to share information on the cost benefits of different staffing decisions, and on the potential benefits of private and public sector joint ventures.

O’Connor added: ‘Authorities and forces must share information with each other about what does and doesn’t work to provide the best economies of scale. The police service must adapt to these changing times in order to deliver the best deal for taxpayers and they will need some support in this.’

Paul McKeever, chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said the report confirmed officers’ ‘worst fears’.

‘Cuts being implemented by this government will turn the clock back at least a decade by reducing police officers and police staff by over 34,000 by 2015. The knock-on effect will be police forces struggling to keep their heads above water as they try to deal with increasing demands and diminishing resources. This will fundamentally change the way we police our communities and an almost inevitable consequence will be a rise in crime rates as the population continues to increase and police numbers fall.’